#i am not smrt

[ziocorvid]

cawcawcaw

(three headed celestial white raven that lieve'tel summoned)

[adridoesstuff]

Czech Schatten (explained for people who haven't seen Czech Elisabeth fully)

With the concert recording of Schatten I reposted gaining some traction a while ago, I felt like I needed to make this post because if you haven't seen this production in it's full iteration, I feel like you can't truly appreciate just how genius this staging is within it's full context. I'll separate this post into a few sections, so it's a bit more coherent

Content warning: the following post contains mentions of drug use

The characterizations of Smrt and Rudolf

I oftentimes like to call this production "what Schonbrunn Elisabeth could have been if the creative team weren't afraid of trying out new approaches" and I think the nuanced portrayal of Der Tod in this production is one of the most telling of that. The Tod of this production, Smrt, is unlike any other Tod I've ever seen.

A big difference between the Der Tod most of us are familiar with and Smrt is while Tod takes souls with kisses, Smrt kills merely on touch. And while written out, it might sound like a gimmick that will just hinder the actor during a performance by limiting his range of interactions, I feel like it did the exact opposite and only helped to flesh out Smrt as a character. Sure, some of us might not be a fan of Der Tod being portrayed as a physical supernatural entity, but this way, Smrt ended up a complex self-contradicting being, who despite not being a human had all the human capacity for feeling and who was consequently full of angst due to this, since there was no way for him to properly fulfill his deepest desires for human connection. Anything he touches gets destroyed, yet he must put on a front of indifference.

The characterization of Rudolf was also unlike any production before. I think what played a major part in that was the entire company and creative team doing extensive historical research into everything surrounding the show's characters and time period, so both of the show's Rudolves indeed felt more historical than all other Rudolves I've seen. I can't really put it into words, but there was just this feeling like the way they acted could have happened in the historical time period.

The Rudolf and Smrt relationship dynamic

A unique take on this relationship was that these two felt more like companions brought together by circumstance rather than a physiological pull. When they first meet, both Smrt and Rudolf are full of angst and yearning for a genuine human connection, which draws them together. Both of them have been abandoned by Elisabeth and they find solace in one another. Yet, despite this, despite them equally being fascinated and drawn towards the other, there's also this underlying fear and unsureness they both have.

Also, an important addition: in general, this production, from an outside perspective, very much favors an asexual reading on the source material, especially when it comes to the approach to Elisabeth herself and Smrt as well. The type of outward attraction Smrt shows for both Elisabeth and Rudolf is in no way outwardly sexual, but it's driven by the yearning for a companion, for being understood and for romantic attraction to some degree, but the most prominent is just the simple need for someone who just understands.

Rastlose Jahre

Another very creative choice this production did was making Rastlose Jahre a sort of foreword to Schatten. The two scenes flowed seamlessly into one another and by Rudolf getting included in the scene, we as viewers got more insight into him.

One touching idea the scene had was the way it showed the progression of time (since this single scene spans 18 years). The scene was staged with Franz sitting at his table downstage right and Elisabeth flitting around the stage in the back, followed by a giant entourage of ladies in waiting. During the first verse, little Rudolf appeared downstage left and tried waving at his mom, trying to catch her attention, but after she ignored him, he looked hopelessly into the audience and ran back into the wings. And a few moments later, adult Rudolf ran out in the same manner, showing just how quickly the time went by.

Adult Rudolf tries to catch his mother's attention and she still ignores him. He looks out into the audience again before he suddenly takes off his jacket, rolls up his sleeve, ties a tourniquet above his elbow and pulling out a syringe from his pocket, he injects the contents into his arm with pained gasps before throwing the syringe away. This is a reference to Rudolf IRL actually taking morphine as a drug and this staging cleverly incorporated the historical detail into the transition into Schatten. Rudolf ashamedly rolls his sleeve back down and puts his jacket back on. He tries calling out for his mother, but she once again ignores him (Michaela's Sisi didn't notice him at all, while Soňa's Sisi did notice him, but decided to run away rather than console and help him).

What happens during Schatten?

The lyric translation stays very close to the original, while adding some interesting spins to some sections (like Smrt saying that he promised to Rudolf to always be his guardian angel and that he will gladly stand by Rudolf's side).

Rudolf stumbles around the stage, still calling out for his mother, as the drugs take effect and Smrt appears at the back of the stage, holding a whip in his hand and cracking it. The hydraulic platform Smrt is standing on gets raised and a stucco decoration resembling a rearing horse can be seen to the side, making a hint at a carriage.

Rudolf is at first afraid of Smrt arriving, but by the first chorus, he gladly climbs up onto the carriage and lets Smrt lead the ride. But, after a while, he begs Smrt to slow down or stop the carriage and jumps back down.

Smrt sees Rudolf being dejected about how powerless he is when it comes to the political situation and making use of the whip, Smrt lifts Rudolf's chin up with it. But, to Smrt's surprise, Rudolf snatches the whip from Smrt's grasp and runs to the carriage, taking control of the ride himself. Smrt jumps up after him, seeing how Rudolf visibly can't manage the chaos of the situation.

Meanwhile, Rudolf is just trying to get a hand of having control over the carriage while evidently being delighted over actually having control over something for the first time in his life. Smrt tries reasoning with him and offers Rudolf a gun with the words "You can defend yourself".

Rudolf takes the gun, almost sobering at Smrt's words, while Smrt takes his whip back. Rudolf approaches the audience as the Death angels crowd around him and he raises up the gun to his head as he and Smrt sing the lyrics "We are only guests in this world, one must remember that". Rudolf looks almost ready to pull the trigger, but realizes what he was about to do and tears the gun away from his head at the last minute.

Smrt looks at him with a longing look of "I wish I could help you escape the pain now and spare you of any other suffering" before he exits. Rudolf looks after Smrt, both horrified over what he was about to do, but also somewhat contemplating following after him, before he turns back to the audience with tears in his eyes and once again clutching his arm over the spot where he injected the drug. He is left completely alone on the now empty stage, helplessly looking into the audience for any sort of hope he could find.

[tired-demonspawn]

probably the most important exam of my young adult(i suppose) life is comming up, so of course i have to be surrounded by 24/7 inspiration and be struck by the innate need to draw, instead of learning

(of course like a good unmedicated adhd haver i have opted to do neither!!!!!)

[captain-krazy]

Me: OMG why is it taking so damn long for that water to boil. It's been like 30 minutes!!!

Also me: *goes into kitchen and realizes that I didn't even turn the burner on*

Me:

[lilithfairen]

Judgmental Critter putting on the clown makeup~

[phalanalanax]

The guy from Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Showing off a guys limited edition car: the mans Delorian

Jumping into conversations just to info dump story beats from various media properties: The Random Loreian

A British person when they need to bring their car in for a tune up: They Hand-The-Lorrie-In

[tarisbackyard]

Me, reading the tags and the little blurb of a fic before reading the fic proper: Wow, this is definitely gonna make me cry.

Me, when I read the fic: Why the fuck am I crying, I need to kill the author with a spoon.

[quietblissxx]

🙃

[jos-has-too-many-hobbies]

*philosopher voice*

“Gaylor”… is to swifties…

As “johnlock”… is to superwholock

[tinselkat]

Kat_McNamara: Man, I'm dizzy. I should probably drink some water. *continues to drink my large coffee*

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 1, day 20

I have succeeded in making mostly invisible progress! Specifically, I went back to, well, almost all of the individual drawings and re-did them in an effort to make Cuff less... jiggly. It didn't work, but along the way I came up with an idea for how I might possibly keep him sufficiently skrunkly and solid! :D

Basically: put every single Cuff loop on its own individual animation layer :) That should help me keep them consistent in size and shape. Idk if that will make more or less work for me, but I care less about that (because I find this process fun) and more about whether or not it will work. And it should! Maybe! In theory! We'll find out together :D 💜

[magicstar16]

You guys know how the Wright Anything Agency/playable characters follows the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” Pattern with their gameplay mechanics/powers?

Well, I just realized something cool. You know in the Investigations series Edgeworth’s power is Logic?

Well, in some interpretations of the three wise monkies, there is a fourth monkey. (Named “Sezaru” in Japanese) who has his hands in his lap, representing “Do no evil”

However, the fourth monkey sometimes is reinterpreted as “Think no evil”

(My fellow COTL peeps can back me up here )

So Edgeworth’s power of logic could technically have him represent “Think no evil”

[adridoesstuff]

Since the Czech production of Elisabeth will be closing at the beginning of June this year, I want to make these little highlight posts for pictures of the production.

Prolog/Alle tanzten mit dem Tod with Pavel Režný as Smrt/Death & Lukáš Ondruš and Martin Holec as Lucheni (and Pavel Klimenda as Rudolf in the background)

[1-ufo]

Me: starts writing first drafts of exogenesis fic in 2010ish

-puts a space port in Cornwall

-imagine it does suborbital flight

-partnered with Richard Bransons virgin galactic

2022: spaceport in Cornwall opens

2023: first virgin orbit flight due to launch tonight.

[noeudspapillons]

Okay but what if it all leads up to the murder of Benoit Blanc & all his companions have to team up to *solve* it except the twist is that one of them DID IT.

no hyperbole, Knives Out needs the MCU treatment

I want Benoit Blanc in like 28 movies that builds up to one giant murder mystery with all of his companions teaming up Endgame style

[12timetraveler]

I made a calculated decision but boy do I suck at math.

So Javier the guinea pig has an abscess under his jaw after getting into a fight with Albert. And I've been trying to treat and clean it but it's not been draining very much.

So this morning I decided to give it another go (after I got ready for work. 20 minutes before I had to leave).

Well let's just say Javier feels LOADS better.

But I had to clean discharge off my floor.

And my face.

And my hair, glasses.

Had to change my clothes.

Got the boy all sanitized and put some pain revealing cream on it then took a shower.

Did I mention I have to leave in just a few minutes?